Far and away the best one I own is "Bricklaying" by Peter Cartwright. Excellent book for walls and real masonry. Sunset Publications also has a decent one which deals with landscaping masonry like retaining walls and patios etc. I will see if I can find it and give you the exact title. "The Art of the Stonemason" by Ian Cramb is a good book for learning some stone basics although he is a little technical. I've found that you can never have to many books and almost everyone no matter how advanced or basic has something to be learned in it.

"Measuring Marking and Layout" by John Carroll is and excellent book for basic layout marking etc. There are many tricks and short cuts to be learned in this book. I keep it in my truck all the time so that I can refer to it.

i checked out a few of thos book in amazon.....they had really bad reviews. did you like them? they said that one of the authors was australian and he used terms and principles that were not common in the US.

Which ones got the bad reviews. I have bought everything that I can find about masonry and the ones that I mentioned seemed applicable. The Peter Cartwright book is either Australian or UK English but still very clear instructions. I didn't have to much problem with the terms. At least to me. Good basic information as well as advanced. Again though the emphasis of this book is towards real bricklaying and not so much hardscapes and landscape masonry. The Ian Cramb book is interesting with good diagrams and what not. The book specializes in the building of Random Rubble walls and so is good if interested in that. It again specializes.

Basic, your in my area, contact Concrete Stone & Tile (CST) They are located in Branchville, NJ Sussex County and offer seminars for versa lok retaining wall systems, pavers and etc. The program is great, I went, you recieve a huge binder about every aspect of the wall systems and pavers from estimating materials and pricing the job to building, it covered everything. I could mail you a booklet that we give out to do-it-yourselfers on how to install the wall systems, it's very helpful, goes over paver designs, wall installations etc.

Man I tried posting to this thread last night but I guess it never made it. These are the primary books that I know about. I have some other books as well but the ones mentioned are the best ones IMHO that I own.

I think the "Bricklaying" book is by an australian but I still like it for the nice illustrations as well as the non-technical writing. Some of the terms are unfamiliar but that didn't bother me too much. The Ian Cramb book is mostly about Random Rubble fill walls and as such is specialized. I did get some good tips out of there that would apply to any stone project and as such found it worth the 20.00 price or whatever it is.

If you find other books that look useful let us know. I would like to add to my collection as well.